BSA Frame Paint

 I have been preoccupied with work and other projects this past week so nothing was happening with the BSA. Yesterday I walked into my little workshop and eyeballed the bike and thought, "dude, you need to get yer ass in gear on this thing". I took my own advice and pushed forward.
 The front forks had to come off. When I removed them all of the ball bearings fell out. I found all but one. That's right, one got away. How screwed up is that. No matter. If things go the way I plan then I won't be needing them anyway.
 I threw the frame into the bed of my truck and took it to work where I had a warm shop to do some painting. The first step was to do a little sand blasting.

 A little hand held media blaster was just right for a project this size. The pic was actually taken before any blasting was done. The shiny areas are from some sanding that I had done a week or two ago. Blasting was done in areas that were greasy and just too confined to get clean by other means.
 The next step was primer. I used a dark color primer and allowed it to dry for half an hour. Prep work for the color coat was nothing more than shaking up a can of rustoleum. Two coats went on ten minutes apart. I then put on two coats of clear.

  I think it turned out pretty good. The paint was dry when this pic was taken and it has a decent shine to it. Ya sure it would be nice to powder coat and bake the frame for a durable finish. That's not in the budget and its also not something I can do myself. I don't like to farm out work if I don't have to. The whole point of this project is to enjoy building something myself. I will probably take this bike to shows but it will definitely not be a show bike. For me, tearing a bike down to the frame and squirting a little paint on it is as much fun as riding the thing. If need be I'll tear it back down and spray it again years from now. I've proven that.  I was painting on this bike thirty something years ago.